For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
(Ephesians 5:5 (NIV))

Did you catch yourself reading this and doing a quick, personal inventory to make sure that you didn’t fall into one or more of these categories?

Did you answer honestly? Did you like your self evaluation?

It is human nature to think that things are either better or worse than they truly are. Did you read this passage and brush it off with the thought that you have it made? Perhaps you read this passage and each word that you read had you squirming because you think you haven’t done well enough! In all honesty, if you profess a faith in Jesus and strive to be an obedient disciple, then you probably had some fleeting thoughts that you have disappointed Jesus in some manner! If you are like everyone else who professes a faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then it is safe to say that not a single day goes by where you don’t do something less than perfect.

Fortunately, our perfection is not what is required, especially when you consider what we are capable of!

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
(Isaiah 64:6 (NIV))

It is not our perfection. It is not our righteousness that gives us grace. It is a gift and all that we have to do is accept it!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
(John 3:16-18 (NIV))

If you have truly accepted this gift and have made Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, then you have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. You have been redeemed. You are being transformed and matured into the image of Christ. No matter what you may have been, you are a new creation in Christ. You may have been immoral, but you are being changed. You may have been impure, but you are being changed. You may have been greedy, but you are being changed. No matter what you may have been, grace has been given and you are being changed!

If you truly have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then all of your sins have been forgiven. Don’t let the enemy tell you otherwise. Don’t let the enemy scare you with the thought that you aren’t redeemed.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 (NIV))

Our lives are not meant to be easy. When we face something out of the ordinary, our first reaction is to think of ourselves and what it will mean to our way of life. They should have the exact opposite effect. We should rejoice in the knowledge that Jesus is with us through these times.

Everyone goes through things in their lives. We, as believers, are no different. We, as the Body of Christ, have been told that we will face things in our lives.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
(John 16:33 (NIV))

The world has been turned over to sin, yet, if we place our faith in Jesus, we will see our lives brought to perfection. We will see our faith brought to maturity. We will see our salvation brought to completion! I don’t know about you, but these sound like good things that God is working in our lives.

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
(Revelation 4:8 (NIV))

Have you ever read this passage and thought that it was easy for these creatures to praise God because that is what they were created to do?

Have you ever come to the realization that we, as humanity, were created to lift up praise to God? We were created to walk with God and to be in fellowship with Him, but that all came to a drastic change when Adam and Eve fell from grace in the Garden of Eden. Because we had sinned, God in all of His holiness, His righteousness, could no longer walk with us and be in fellowship with us. Perfection cannot be in the presence of sin!

I can only imagine how Adam and Eve must have felt after having that intimate relationship with God only to lose it because of a lie.

Thankfully, God had a plan of restoration, of redemption, that would allow us to trade our sinful nature for His righteousness.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:14-17 (NIV))

In other words, God reached down from heaven with a way to redeem us and bring us back to a loving relationship with Himself. All that we have to do is choose to accept that redemption. We have a choice because God made a choice to send His Son to redeem us to Himself! If that is not worthy of our praise, then I don’t know what is!

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” should be forever upon our hearts and our lips.

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,
(Philippians 1:18 (NIV))

What does this passage mean to you?

I was given a very interesting point of view of this passage earlier today, and to be completely honest with you, it makes perfect sense!

When this passage was written, Paul was in prison and other people started to preach the Gospel. Some had pure motives while others had selfish motives. Paul recognized the value of both, since spreading the Gospel was his biggest concern. I know that I do this all the time, but let me ask a few questions of you.

Do you think that the people who heard the Gospel from those with false motives knew of those motives, especially if what they preached was true to the Gospel? Let me ask this a slightly different way. If you are channel surfing and come across a television preacher who is preaching the truth, will everyone ignore this preacher simply because they may seek money? Perhaps your church has a guest speaker and they are very eloquent at conveying the truth of the Gospel. Do you stop listening to them because they set up a table to sell the books that they have written?

Let’s be honest with ourselves!

We are all human and we all have motives for doing things that are less than perfect. Does that stop us from doing them? Does that stop us from listening to those who have less than perfect motives? Think about that in relationship to your job. What if you are having a bad day, but you need your paycheck? Do you put on a fake smile and go about your day, or do you storm off? Most people will put on a fake smile. They may have less than a proper motive, but they come across with something that will impact those around them in a positive way.

Think about that in terms of the Gospel!

As long as the truth is being preached, God can and does use that truth to help spread the Gospel. I don’t condone this, but have you ever seen two churches become rivals? They try to do anything and everything to be “better” than their rival. One may take out billboard ads with scripture passages while the other will place ads in local newspapers. One may apply for and receive a license for a radio station, while one may use the internet to broadcast their services. In all of this rivalry, who really wins?

If you say that God wins because the Gospel is being spread, then you are correct.

We are only human and our human motives are less than perfect, but God is perfect. In fact, He is perfection. To use an old saying, “God can take our mess and make a message!” If God can do that, then God can take our impure motives and turn them to His glory!

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
(1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV))

A lamb without blemish or defect!

Do you understand the reason for the quest for perfection?

When a gift was presented to royalty, it was expected to be the best that you could give. When a gift is given to God as an offering, does this not merit even more than an earthly king? I have often wondered if God’s instructions for the original Passover were actually intended to be a gift to God, for these lambs were also to be without blemish. The blood from these animals was to be presented on the door posts of the homes. I realize that this was as a sign, but could it have also been a thank you offering for what God was about to do? Was it a teachable moment? Every person who could claim that they were Jewish knew the importance of the blood. They knew the importance of without blemish or defect. When they were told that Jesus was a lamb without blemish or defect, they knew exactly what it meant. When they were told that they had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, they knew exactly what it meant.

Jesus became the perfect lamb. He was born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life. He, like a lamb led to the slaughter, was crucified, dead and buried. But, nothing can hold Godly perfection. Through His resurrection we have been made clean.

It took someone who could be without blemish or defect. It took the only Lamb of God!

We should be very thankful that God’s ways are not our ways, for our ways have allowed sin into the world and have turned everything in our lives into a disaster!

No matter what we attempt on our own, it is a failure due to humanity’s fall from grace. We can do nothing on our own. All that we do and think is as filthy rags in the eyes of God. When we are thinking about greed and worldly matters, God has thoughts that would save us from our greed. When we think about thoughts and desires for physical pleasures, God has desires for us to know Him intimately.

We are tossed about by the desires of the world and face these temptations daily, yet, we have a God who has sent His son to experience these temptations with perfection. We can rely on God’s ways to lead us into salvation and away from temptation.

With everything that I have been through in the last several days, I have been thinking a lot about physical imperfections and God’s perfection. This is a repost of something from 6 years ago that I feel is worth repeating.

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As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
(Psalms 18:30 (NIV))

Can you think of anything in this world that is perfect? Is there anything that has not been touched by the consequences of sin and death? If we take a close look at this thought process, then we can unequivocally state that, since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, it has become the natural order for things to degrade and devolve and not evolve.

Why is this? If God is perfect, how can the world be full of imperfection? How can a perfect Creator create something that is imperfect?

God did not create the world in imperfection. He created the world in perfection and gave us free will to choose our own course of action. He did this so that those who seek Him would seek Him out of an honest desire and not out of a “pre-programmed” response. God has a plan. His plan takes into consideration the fact that we have a free will. It also takes into consideration that He will seek to call each of us to Him so that we will turn to Him out of our free will.

Through this plan, God has given us His Son, Jesus Christ as an atoning sacrifice who bridges the gap between ourselves in our sin and the righteousness of God. Again, God allows us free will in whether we accept this plan. Some people feel that they do not need this plan. Others feel that it is too simple and will not work for them. There is a design philosophy that states that less is more. In essence, the simpler things actually take more time to develop and refine in order to get to the point where it is simple.

We do not have to work for salvation. We do not have to suffer for our sins. We do not need to find our own way to salvation, for our salvation has found its way to us. All we have to do is accept the perfect way that God has provided and earnestly take refuge in it.